The following description relates to role generation techniques such as may be used, for example, with enterprise management systems.
Recent developments in enterprise management systems have attempted to integrate multiple legacy systems, typically found in existing heterogeneous information technology (IT) environments, into a common enterprise management solution. Such integration processes generally involves unifying access to multiple resources, including applications (e.g., Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) applications, resource and project management (“RPM”) applications, and data warehouses), services (including Web-based, client-server, and other network services), and information (e.g., stored documents, Internet and intranet information, databases, and knowledge bases). Benefits of unifying such resources typically include increasing the value of the individual resources through integrated operation, allowing employees to collaborate on projects, and increasing the productivity and efficiency of the entire organization.
Several solutions have emerged to help users locate relevant resources, such as applications, services, and/or information. For example, enterprise portals may help filter resources through the use of roles. In an enterprise portal that implements roles, each individual in the enterprise may be deemed to fill one or more roles, under which the individual takes on specific activities, responsibilities and tasks, and the portal presents the individual with choices based on his or her assigned role. Processes become embedded in roles, and users assuming these roles are responsible for ensuring that the associated process tasks are carried out.
A role defines an activity set that an individual undertakes in order to achieve a desired business objective. An individual can assume several different roles all at the same time. A role, rather than an individual, defines how a business process is fulfilled and, in turn, how the business process leads to achieving a particular business objective successfully. A role is defined by skills, which in turn define the qualifications required to perform a particular task. Additional properties may also be used in defining a role, including but not limited to availability and/or location of an individual, desire of an individual to work for a particular manager or with particular co-workers, an indicated desire to gain new skills, and a desire to work on a project of a particular type or with a particular subject.
Roles within an enterprise tend to evolve, or otherwise change, frequently. Accordingly, in a role-based portal, the prevalence of such change means that every role defined in the portal must be flexible and dynamic enough to handle such change. Change can be driven through a role. In order to be effective, however, a role-based system typically must have precisely-defined roles that maximize use of an enterprise's human resources. Inherent in role definition is the responsibility to integrate content from various internal and external sources. Role definition, therefore, typically should be carefully considered to ensure that the workplace not only meets the enterprise's working, legal, and processing requirements, but also can be easily and flexibly maintained.
Roles can be defined at various different levels including, e.g., the project level. Project-based role definition tends to be a complex process. In a typical scenario, management first defines what it hopes is an effective number and type of roles according to project requirements, typically within budgetary and resource constraints. For example, informational access requirements may be identified that are generic enough for wide applicability, yet still meet project objectives. Although information a CEO needs or wants tends to differ from that of a field technician, providing a different access mechanism for each individual could be cost-prohibitive. Management also typically defines the required skills for each role. Next, management may determine the skills and qualifications of individuals who are available to staff those roles. Then management matches those skills to the defined roles, and modifies one or more roles to fit the skills of available individuals. Each of these steps tends to be costly in terms of time and other resources.